Dragons are too hard for me

[Skyscanner1]

I'm level 17, but I am finding dragons so hard to kill, like my arrows do barely no damage. Perhaps archery isn't the best way to kill them, so I'm going to focus on training my mage skills too.

Though earlier I encountered a forest dragon (think it might be from a mod, idk) and it took me so long to get it down to half HP, at which point I ran away lol. Are there any enchantments or better methods to killing dragons? Is magic better? Is melee better?

I'm guessing archery is probably the least effective way to kill them since their scales are pretty sturdy, but yeah. Any help to kill them faster would be nice. Thanks!

 

[TheAdventurer!]

I think it all depends on what weapons your character is best at, what difficulty you are on, and what mods you are using. I am usually able to wither down their health with my bow, and then strike them with my sword once they land. It just depends on your playstyle, I guess.

 

[Skyscanner1]

Ah. I have a mod which makes enemies a little tougher, but not tough enough to make it impossible. My difficulty level is Expert I believe, though I could lower it. I regularly use bows, like now I'm using the Elven Bow.

I guess I could lower the difficulty, but was just looking for some nice general tips to help me kill them. Thanks bro!

 

[TheAdventurer!]

You're welcome. Oh, as for magic, certain spells are probably more effective than others, though I haven't made a magic based character yet, so I could be wrong. I'm pretty sure that some are more powerful than others though.

 

[TheDreamersverse]

Yeah it's most likely the mods your using making it hard dude

 

[TheDreamersverse]

What I do (everyone is different), most of my characters are archers, so I shoot them until they land and then with my skills in one handed I slash and hack them down when they land

 

[LazuIi]

Occasional archery does little most times so just shoot (poisoned arrows may help just a bit) until it lands, then melee and cast spells. Plus when you get further along and are frustrated at them flying constantly you can use Dragonrend- however sometimes this causes them to fly away from you to land and can frustrate further but most of the time they'll land in your general vicinity.

 

[alceryes]

You definitely have a mod making dragons much tougher.

A couple tips -
Play keep away. They can't hurt you if they can't hit you. You'll need A LOT of arrows. Bound bow is good here.
Use followers/summons. Summons won't last long unless they are the more powerful (expensive to cast) variety. Essential followers (like Mjoll) are very good for this.
Use resistance/magic/powers/skills/gear. Resist magic, resist fire/frost/shock, racial abilities/powers (dunmer/nord/breton), resistance gear, absorb magic, skill perk (block - elemental protection), spellbreaker (shield), etc..
Always physically attack from the side. Unmodded dragon's attacks are the same strength from the front and back but the side attack (wing buffet) is noticeably weaker.
Deal more damage. Beef up the power of your weapons so you kill them before they kill you.
Have potions ready. This can get expensive but it can also save your hide.

 

[Papoy]

Forest dragon is added by mod Deadly Dragons, so yes, as its name suggests it DOES make dragons way stronger. Instead of lowering difficulty, I suggest you go to MCM menu, find Deadly Dragons tab and play with the sliders~~ It's fully customizable, you can adjust HP, melee and magic damage, armor and magic resistance etc. The reason they're so strong is because sliders are set pretty high by default.

As for magic mentioned:
Dragons use magicka to Shout so hitting them with shock type of damage (spell or enchantment) will make them less noisy (this is a pun. laugh).
They use stamina to fly so hitting them with frost type of damage (spell or enchantment) will make them land more often.
And fire is fire, always was and always will be. It's same wherever you go. Bonus hp damage.

Dragons are resistant to poison and illusion effects (calm, fear, frenzy, etc). Paralize wont work either (it'd be hilarious if it would.)

 

[Specter of Death]

Everything that people have mentioned here basically sum up all the answers I could give you, but there is one thing that I think hasn’t been covered. When it comes to magicka, you should also take into consideration the types of dragons they may be. So for Frost dragons, yeah you should you should use frost spells to slow them down, but offensively frost spells will be a little less effective because they are frost dragons - and therefore have some resostance there. However, frost dragons are weaker to fire. Sorta like Nords and Draugr, they are resistant to frost but weak to fire. This should be thought about tactfully with every encounter you have. I have similar mods, including the dragons mod you have on, and play on master difficulty; so dragons are going to always be rather difficult until late game. But keeping in mind this, and what everyone before me has said will most definitely make a difference.

I wish you the best in your dragon-slaying efforts my friend!

 

[Ancano]

I'm level 17, but I am finding dragons so hard to kill, like my arrows do barely no damage. Perhaps archery isn't the best way to kill them, so I'm going to focus on training my mage skills too.

Though earlier I encountered a forest dragon (think it might be from a mod, idk) and it took me so long to get it down to half HP, at which point I ran away lol. Are there any enchantments or better methods to killing dragons? Is magic better? Is melee better?

I'm guessing archery is probably the least effective way to kill them since their scales are pretty sturdy, but yeah. Any help to kill them faster would be nice. Thanks!

Another option is to just skip the quest. When I played Skyrim, always waited until much later on to run thru the quest which spawns the Dragons. Found the game much more enjoyable and was able to get more accomplished without having the Dragon spam to attack me everywhere I go and it also put a stop to the instant kills from Dragons landing on top of me and arriving at the worse possible time to kill quest givers or ruin my fishing trip.

 

[Skyscanner1]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I'm level 37 now, lots of my levels have been given through trainers because I've got quite a lot of money. I'm finding dragons a lot easier now and have switched back to Expert difficulty (had it a few settings lower while I gained levels). I still struggle with some aspects but they're a lot easier - I've been getting Ebony arrows to get them to land and use magic to finish them off. I barely go melee.

Main quest completed, gonna finish the College of Winterhold story and move onto the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood, and then complete the Dragonborn/Dawnguard DLCs. Cheers pals!